Untitled c. 1930s

This photograph was made by Piet Zwart, we don't know when. It's an image of industrial machinery, where process is everything. The first thing I notice is the grainy texture, almost like it's made up of tiny dots. It's not a slick, seamless image, but rather something that feels almost tactile. I love the way the light catches on the metal, creating these subtle gradations of tone. Look at the rope running through the center of the machine – it's so solid and real! The longer you look, the more you feel the weight and tension of the whole apparatus. Zwart really wants you to understand the relationship between the elements. It reminds me a little of some of the early Constructivist photography, where the subject is less about the thing itself and more about the underlying structure and movement, less about the end result and more about the production. There's always something mysterious about the image: what is the machine actually making?